There’s nothing quite like holding a live geoduck, the famed Pacific Northwest shellfish, as part of a lesson about sustainability.

That’s just what ninth graders from Tahoma Junior High did during a field trip to Seattle Oct. 20 to study environmental impacts on Puget Sound.

The students were from Todd Baker, Scott Mercer, Ryan Walston and Cary Collins’ classes, which are currently studying Pacific Northwest history.

Baker said it was a culminating field experience. After having learned about the Puget Sound he felt it was best for them to see it for themselves.

“The whole goal is to get the kids out there teaching what’s wrong with the Sound and what they can do about it,” he said. “We want the kids to actually go out on the Puget Sound,” Baker said.

This is the fifth field trip Baker has taken students on in the past three years.

It is a part of a program called Sounding Off, which is designed to help students actively discuss and spread information about sustainability. Baker’s plan is for the ninth graders to go to elementary schools and educate younger students about what they have learned, as well as make fliers and brochures, or produce videos for the Internet.

After the students arrived in Seattle, they boarded a ferry to Bainbridge Island. While on the ferry, they listened to lectures from stakeholders from the region — businesses or organizations who depend on maintaining Puget Sound’s water quality.

One of them, Nicole Hopper, was from Taylor Shellfish Farms, which is located in the city of Bows near Bellingham.

Hopper told the students how shellfish are hatched on the farm and eventually sold. She then discussed the various forms of shellfish, such as clams, mussels, or even the odd looking geoduck, all of which she had live samples for the students to look at and hold.

“It was really slimy,” said 14-year-old Mason Blair.

Hopper also explained how shellfish help clean and purify the water in the Sound as they consume plankton. A single oyster, for example, can clean up to 65 gallons of water a day.

If the water is not kept clean, however, the water can become too polluted for the shellfish to survive and their business suffers. Strict testing of the water ensures that the shellfish are not harmed by toxic chemicals, and if the water is considered harmful, farms like Taylor Shellfish close — sometimes for as long as a month — until the water is deemed clean enough.

Yet, there are some pollutants that the shellfish can’t clean which makes them unhealthy to eat. Pesticides and fertilizer used on lawns can wash down storm drains which then empty into the Puget Sound. Even certain toothpastes and face cleaners contain small micro-plastics which are not broken down by the time they reach the Sound and can be eaten by marine animals.

Hopper referenced Chesapeake Bay as an example.

“It became so polluted they couldn’t harvest anymore,” she said.

Now, native oysters are being reintroduced into the Bay to help clean the water.

The same thing, Hooper said, could happen to Puget Sound.

Several of the students said they planned to make changes to their life based on what they had heard.

“We have to be aware about how we are polluting the environment,” Blair said.

Matt Ratigan, 14, said he plans to use organic fertilizer from now on.

“Basically, we’re the main problem,” he said. “But we can do something about it.”

After riding the ferries, the students went to the Seattle Aquarium, where they got to view Puget Sound’s marine life.

Baker also tied the trip in with previous projects students have done, such as installing rain gardens, which are designed to prevent chemicals and pollutants from entering storm drains.

“It’s to teach them that even though they live in Maple Valley, which seems far away, they still affect it (Puget Sound),” Baker said. “It’s about making wise life choices.”